UDON THANI - Three primary school students caught setting fire to their school said they were angry because a teacher punished the eldest of them for climbing a tree, reports said on Thursday.
Three primary school students are caught setting fire to their school in Udon Thani.
Meanwhile, Bangkok tech college hooligans have thrown mini-explosives into a rival college's grounds, and a teacher was beaten up in Samut Prakan.
The three firebugs -- a sixth grader aged 12, and two fourth graders aged 10 -- are students at Ban Som Yiemnon Pattana school in Udon Thani's Nam Som district. Their names were withheld.
The sixth grade student told police that he was furious when a teacher punished him for climbing a tamarind tree last week.
So he recruited the two fourth graders to help him set fire to the school as an act of vengeance.
On Tuesday night, the three rode a motorcycle to the school and sneaked into the building. The sixth grader had brought a container of petrol with him and he poured the fuel on to a wooden staircase and set fire to it while his two friends were playing with a computer in a teacher's dormitory.
A janitor, Inn Simungkhun, caught the students in the act and stopped the fire in time. The three boys were later handed over to police.
The staircase was slightly damaged by the flames.
Police also found out that the students stole two watches, two amulets and a pair of earrings from the teacher's dormitory, the report said.
The three were charged with attempting to burn a public building, breaking into a government office and stealing.
The provincial court ordered that the students be released because they are juveniles.
In Bangkok, Pol Lt Col Worawat Sukchai, a duty officer at Bangkok Yai police station, said a group of teenagers on motorcycles hurled small explosive devices into Siam Technology College grounds on Charan Sanitwong road.
Pol Lt Col Worawat said the guardhouse at the college was damaged but there were no injuries.
Witnesses told police that about 10 teenagers on at least five motorcycles gathered in front of the college on Wednesday night. They threw small objects at the guardhouse, causing loud explosions.
Police believed the troublemakers were students from a rival college.
Police were still interviewing witnesses and compiling other evidence.
In Samut Prakan, a teacher has complained to police that he was bashed on his school's grounds by students from a rival school when he went to question them about pingpong bombs being thrown into the grounds.
Panya Channoi, 41, a teacher at Klong Kratum Rasadorn Bamrung Uthit School, told the police that he was attacked by students from Dan Samrong School and one's elder brother.
He told police he was patrolling the school area because students from a rival school had thrown three ping-pong bombs into the grounds.
He said he came across three students near the school’s backyard.
“I approached one of them for his ID, the other two kept yelling insults at me so I smacked them on their heads to discipline them,” he said.
The other two boys then took off on their motorcycles, leaving their friend behind, he said.
“As I was questioning the boy, the other two students came back with more people and an elder brother,” he said.
Mr Panya alleged the brother, aged, 21, hit him in the face with his motorcycle helmet, breaking three of his teeth and then all of them started bashing him.
Police said the 21-year-old admitted that he assaulted the teacher. He said he was angry that the teacher hit his brother.
Police said several students have been detained for questioning. Their names were withheld because they are minors.